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Ever since I discovered, to my astonishment, that the alarm on my phone could ring even if it was switched off, I have made a point of never using the alarm on the phone. I would be too worried that the alarm might just be set to ring during a concert.

I'm known as the "Cell Phone Nazi" at my high school! If I catch anyone using a phone in any manner during class, I send them to the office and suspend them from class! (Unless they have a family emergency, such as an ill family member and they might need to be contacted--they must tell me in advance.) I have no problem dealing with people using phones in movie theaters, either. Last week, I was trying to enjoy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and some morbidly obese woman in front of me kept taking out her phone to check for messages or something, and since the theater was pitch black, the screen light was very annoying. After the 4th or 5th time she did it once the movie started, I tapped the beached whale on the shoulder and said, "If you take out your phone one more time, I'll have an usher remove from the theater. So, put it away once and for all." (The last line was uttered in a Dirty Harry "Do you feel lucky, punk" tone of voice.) Fortunately, she didn't test me.

Well david, your countryman Lebrecht has the answer for you. Check it out here : It is a combination of ignorance and mortification. Apparently the poor man's name is now known (he is a long term subscriber)!!!!

Thanks for this Andromaque! Very interesting explanation, though perhaps still leaving one a bit mystified, as one of the comments on Lebrecht's post points out.

By the way, and totally OT, your name always reminds me of the character Andromaque in Berlioz's opera "Les Troyens". The scene in which she presents her son Astyanax to Priam the king, after her husband Hector has been killed, is to me one of the most moving in all opera. It seems as though all the sorrows of war are in it. And she doesn't sing a note.

Andromaque
3000 Post Club Member
Registered: 08/29/08
Posts: 3886
Loc: New York

Originally Posted By: David-G

Originally Posted By: Andromaque

Well david, your countryman Lebrecht has the answer for you. Check it out here : It is a combination of ignorance and mortification. Apparently the poor man's name is now known (he is a long term subscriber)!!!!

Thanks for this Andromaque! Very interesting explanation, though perhaps still leaving one a bit mystified, as one of the comments on Lebrecht's post points out.

By the way, and totally OT, your name always reminds me of the character Andromaque in Berlioz's opera "Les Troyens". The scene in which she presents her son Astyanax to Priam the king, after her husband Hector has been killed, is to me one of the most moving in all opera. It seems as though all the sorrows of war are in it. And she doesn't sing a note.

Beautiful! But my inspiration was the gorgeous French "tragedy" written in verse by Jean Racine in 1667, but of course inspired by Greek mythology. It has some wonderful poetry and it very much feels like one of the late Beethoven sonatas in my imagination.

I think it's worth noting that the idea that this cell phone was ringing an alarm, due to its "persistent nature" is merely the opinion of the conductor who was irritated by it. The truth is he would have no idea whether it was an alarm or not. You can assign any tone to any function on most phones. If the user had his voice mail turned off, the phone could easily ring out until it was answered. I don't use voice mail and my phone will ring out for well over a minute if I don't pick it up. It's actually the network which determines how long a phone rings unanswered before it self-cancels.

I believe the guy was receiving a phone call and was hoping the person calling would hang up but they didn't. If he had an alarm that wouldn't stop, he would have rushed to turn it off because he would know that it wouldn't stop until he canceled it. The man's behaviour is consistent with an embarrassed man hoping the caller would quickly hang up and he could pretend it was somebody else. Unfortunately for him, his caller was quite determined!

I think it's worth noting that the idea that this cell phone was ringing an alarm, due to its "persistent nature" is merely the opinion of the conductor who was irritated by it. The truth is he would have no idea whether it was an alarm or not. You can assign any tone to any function on most phones. If the user had his voice mail turned off, the phone could easily ring out until it was answered. I don't use voice mail and my phone will ring out for well over a minute if I don't pick it up. It's actually the network which determines how long a phone rings unanswered before it self-cancels.

I believe the guy was receiving a phone call and was hoping the person calling would hang up but they didn't. If he had an alarm that wouldn't stop, he would have rushed to turn it off because he would know that it wouldn't stop until he canceled it. The man's behaviour is consistent with an embarrassed man hoping the caller would quickly hang up and he could pretend it was somebody else. Unfortunately for him, his caller was quite determined!

My impression is quite different. I think he froze, a la the deer in the headlights. He did not know what to do when the alarm went off because he didn't understand the phone. Silly technophobe.

I know that's quite a speculation, but it's as good as any other, given the "facts" as they are known.

In any case, I'm not going to blame the conductor here. I think I would be more than irritated in his case.

I think it's worth noting that the idea that this cell phone was ringing an alarm, due to its "persistent nature" is merely the opinion of the conductor who was irritated by it. The truth is he would have no idea whether it was an alarm or not. You can assign any tone to any function on most phones. If the user had his voice mail turned off, the phone could easily ring out until it was answered. I don't use voice mail and my phone will ring out for well over a minute if I don't pick it up. It's actually the network which determines how long a phone rings unanswered before it self-cancels.

I believe the guy was receiving a phone call and was hoping the person calling would hang up but they didn't. If he had an alarm that wouldn't stop, he would have rushed to turn it off because he would know that it wouldn't stop until he canceled it. The man's behaviour is consistent with an embarrassed man hoping the caller would quickly hang up and he could pretend it was somebody else. Unfortunately for him, his caller was quite determined!

My impression is quite different. I think he froze, a la the deer in the headlights. He did not know what to do when the alarm went off because he didn't understand the phone. Silly technophobe.

I know that's quite a speculation, but it's as good as any other, given the "facts" as they are known.

In any case, I'm not going to blame the conductor here. I think I would be more than irritated in his case.

It might be as you said. There's a fair bit of conjecture going around. I can say that I had an iPhone briefly (which I sold). It came with that "marimba" ringtone set as default for phone calls. The default alarm tone was quite different.

We won't know unless the guy comes forward and offers himself up for an interview. Even then.. he could make up a story that damages him the least. He definitely was a deer in the headlights though!

What's the big deal? He got a call, he had a new iphone, so it rang though he had the right intentions (he thought he had put it on silent, etc). It rang, the conductor being a d*** stopped the concert. The distinguished members of PW in addition demand that the guy be "outed". I really don't have a clue why. The world is a strange place.

What's the big deal? He got a call, he had a new iphone, so it rang though he had the right intentions (he thought he had put it on silent, etc). It rang, the conductor being a d*** stopped the concert. The distinguished members of PW in addition demand that the guy be "outed". I really don't have a clue why. The world is a strange place.

IMO, I don't think calling the conductor a d*** is really called for..I mean, think about it. You listen to almost the entirety of an entire symphony, at almost the very end of the piece, when it gets super quiet, a cell phone goes off. Then the cell phone keeps ringing. I think it's perfectly understandable to not want to end the entire piece with a ringing phone. I'd argue that almost nobody here would want to do that as well - and would agree it's valid to stop the piece and try again. Regardless of whether you agree with how the audience member was addressed by the conductor, I think that you would agree the action of choosing to stop and try again is probably the best action, given the situation.

What's the big deal? He got a call, he had a new iphone, so it rang though he had the right intentions (he thought he had put it on silent, etc). It rang, the conductor being a d*** stopped the concert. The distinguished members of PW in addition demand that the guy be "outed". I really don't have a clue why. The world is a strange place.

IMO, I don't think calling the conductor a d*** is really called for..I mean, think about it. You listen to almost the entirety of an entire symphony, at almost the very end of the piece, when it gets super quiet, a cell phone goes off. Then the cell phone keeps ringing. I think it's perfectly understandable to not want to end the entire piece with a ringing phone. I'd argue that almost nobody here would want to do that as well - and would agree it's valid to stop the piece and try again. Regardless of whether you agree with how the audience member was addressed by the conductor, I think that you would agree the action of choosing to stop and try again is probably the best action, given the situation.

Yea..you're right. Being a d*** had nothing to do with stopping the concert, that was probably the right thing to do. Then addressing the audience member in the way he did was what I find a problem with. I would probably be pissed off too but I would just restart and apologize to the audience (and justify starting over again citing musical reasons. That was unprofessional behavior on his part.

The people on PW are also being unreasonable by wanting to know his identity. I don't understand for what purpose. You should all go back to practicing the piano and stop maligning somebody you don't even know.. nobody even knows the exact details of what happened that day. If it really was an honest mistake (new iphone, etc), that guy doesn't really deserve any of these discussions devoted to him on the internet (including people making comparisons with child molesters!! WTH?!). So I find some of the posts here more disgusting than what happened that day at the concert.

"Actually, Patron X said he had no idea he was the culprit. He said his company replaced his BlackBerry with an iPhone the day before the concert. He said he made sure to turn it off before the concert, not realizing that the alarm clock had accidentally been set and would sound even if the phone was in silent mode.

“I didn’t even know phones came with alarms,” the man said.

But as Mr. Gilbert was glaring in his direction, he fiddled with the phone as others around him did, just to be sure, pressing buttons. That was when the sound stopped. It was only in the car going home that his wife checked the settings on his phone and found that the alarm had been set."

"Actually, Patron X said he had no idea he was the culprit. He said his company replaced his BlackBerry with an iPhone the day before the concert. He said he made sure to turn it off before the concert, not realizing that the alarm clock had accidentally been set and would sound even if the phone was in silent mode.

“I didn’t even know phones came with alarms,” the man said.

But as Mr. Gilbert was glaring in his direction, he fiddled with the phone as others around him did, just to be sure, pressing buttons. That was when the sound stopped. It was only in the car going home that his wife checked the settings on his phone and found that the alarm had been set."

Some more from that recent NYT article, enough to make you feel really bad for the guy:

Quote:

“You can imagine how devastating it is to know you had a hand in that,” said the man, who described himself as a business executive between 60 and 70 who runs two companies. “It’s horrible, horrible.” The man said he had not slept in two days.

The man, called Patron X by the Philharmonic, said he was a lifelong classical music lover and 20-year subscriber to the orchestra who was friendly with several of its members. He said he himself was often irked by coughs, badly timed applause — and cellphone rings. “Then God, there was I. Holy smokes,” he said.

“It was just awful to have any role in something like that, that is so disturbing and disrespectful not only to the conductor but to all the musicians and not least to the audience, which was so into this concert,” he said by telephone.

“I hope the people at that performance and members of the orchestra can certainly forgive me for this whole event. I apologize to the whole audience.”

stores
6000 Post Club Member
Registered: 12/28/09
Posts: 6651
Loc: Here, as opposed to there

Originally Posted By: liszt85

Originally Posted By: Kuanpiano

Originally Posted By: liszt85

What's the big deal? He got a call, he had a new iphone, so it rang though he had the right intentions (he thought he had put it on silent, etc). It rang, the conductor being a d*** stopped the concert. The distinguished members of PW in addition demand that the guy be "outed". I really don't have a clue why. The world is a strange place.

IMO, I don't think calling the conductor a d*** is really called for..I mean, think about it. You listen to almost the entirety of an entire symphony, at almost the very end of the piece, when it gets super quiet, a cell phone goes off. Then the cell phone keeps ringing. I think it's perfectly understandable to not want to end the entire piece with a ringing phone. I'd argue that almost nobody here would want to do that as well - and would agree it's valid to stop the piece and try again. Regardless of whether you agree with how the audience member was addressed by the conductor, I think that you would agree the action of choosing to stop and try again is probably the best action, given the situation.

Yea..you're right. Being a d*** had nothing to do with stopping the concert, that was probably the right thing to do. Then addressing the audience member in the way he did was what I find a problem with. I would probably be pissed off too but I would just restart and apologize to the audience (and justify starting over again citing musical reasons. That was unprofessional behavior on his part.

The people on PW are also being unreasonable by wanting to know his identity. I don't understand for what purpose. You should all go back to practicing the piano and stop maligning somebody you don't even know.. nobody even knows the exact details of what happened that day. If it really was an honest mistake (new iphone, etc), that guy doesn't really deserve any of these discussions devoted to him on the internet (including people making comparisons with child molesters!! WTH?!). So I find some of the posts here more disgusting than what happened that day at the concert.

Who wants to know his identity? Who cares? I don't see anyone asking to know WHO he is. Why am I not the least bit surprised that you of all people would take the stance you have?

Edited by stores (01/13/1204:34 AM)

_________________________

"And if we look at the works of J.S. Bach — a benevolent god to which all musicians should offer a prayer to defend themselves against mediocrity... -Debussy

stores
6000 Post Club Member
Registered: 12/28/09
Posts: 6651
Loc: Here, as opposed to there

Originally Posted By: beet31425

Some more from that recent NYT article, enough to make you feel really bad for the guy:

Quote:

“You can imagine how devastating it is to know you had a hand in that,” said the man, who described himself as a business executive between 60 and 70 who runs two companies. “It’s horrible, horrible.” The man said he had not slept in two days.

The man, called Patron X by the Philharmonic, said he was a lifelong classical music lover and 20-year subscriber to the orchestra who was friendly with several of its members. He said he himself was often irked by coughs, badly timed applause — and cellphone rings. “Then God, there was I. Holy smokes,” he said.

“It was just awful to have any role in something like that, that is so disturbing and disrespectful not only to the conductor but to all the musicians and not least to the audience, which was so into this concert,” he said by telephone.

“I hope the people at that performance and members of the orchestra can certainly forgive me for this whole event. I apologize to the whole audience.”

It was a very unfortunate incident. While the cell phone greatly disrupted the concert, it was an accident. The article indicates that no one felt worse about the situation (and suffered more, not having slept for 2 days and counting) than the patron who caused the disturbance.

What's the big deal? He got a call, he had a new iphone, so it rang though he had the right intentions (he thought he had put it on silent, etc). It rang, the conductor being a d*** stopped the concert. The distinguished members of PW in addition demand that the guy be "outed". I really don't have a clue why. The world is a strange place.

IMO, I don't think calling the conductor a d*** is really called for..I mean, think about it. You listen to almost the entirety of an entire symphony, at almost the very end of the piece, when it gets super quiet, a cell phone goes off. Then the cell phone keeps ringing. I think it's perfectly understandable to not want to end the entire piece with a ringing phone. I'd argue that almost nobody here would want to do that as well - and would agree it's valid to stop the piece and try again. Regardless of whether you agree with how the audience member was addressed by the conductor, I think that you would agree the action of choosing to stop and try again is probably the best action, given the situation.

Yea..you're right. Being a d*** had nothing to do with stopping the concert, that was probably the right thing to do. Then addressing the audience member in the way he did was what I find a problem with. I would probably be pissed off too but I would just restart and apologize to the audience (and justify starting over again citing musical reasons. That was unprofessional behavior on his part.

The people on PW are also being unreasonable by wanting to know his identity. I don't understand for what purpose. You should all go back to practicing the piano and stop maligning somebody you don't even know.. nobody even knows the exact details of what happened that day. If it really was an honest mistake (new iphone, etc), that guy doesn't really deserve any of these discussions devoted to him on the internet (including people making comparisons with child molesters!! WTH?!). So I find some of the posts here more disgusting than what happened that day at the concert.

Who wants to know his identity? Who cares? I don't see anyone asking to know WHO he is. Why am I not the least bit surprised that you of all people would take the stance you have?

There were people here wondering if he would reveal his identity and if he did, would he come up with a defensive story, etc. Who cares? Exactly, but apparently some people do. Others in this thread have led the discussion on to child rapists and such. Me of all people taking the stance that I did? What stance did I take? Did you understand it in the first place? The stance I took was not that it was appropriate for the phone to have rung.

Good for him for owning up to it. He understands, unlike some people here.

We have been getting along somewhat alright for some time now. If you want to keep that going, I suggest you don't make such statements without completely understanding what I had to say. Not that I care too much, just wanted to put it out there.

Pogorelich.
4000 Post Club Member
Registered: 12/28/08
Posts: 4690
Loc: not somewhere over the rainbow

Originally Posted By: Damon

Originally Posted By: Andromaque

Also I still do not get how you can have things "covered". Sure an adult could be in charge but wouldn't you rather get a (vibe) call or text and get the heck out of there if need be, the conductor non-withstanding? If I could not be reached during concerts, I would definitely not go as frequently as I do now.

Here in the sticks, we call it family. I don't feel a pressing need to be available 24/7 and consider it one of the evils of modern technology that I'm expected to be.

Actually, I agree with that, even though I'm relatively young (20). I absolutely hate the fact that I have a phone sometimes. But I need it for work (gigs). I didn't grow up with a cell phone, and I didn't know what internet was until I was 15.. life was in a way more enjoyable. Just different.

I really don't think anyone would suffer so greatly if they didn't have their phone for 2 hours.

_________________________"The eyes can mislead, the smile can lie, but the shoes always tell the truth."

Ever since I discovered, to my astonishment, that the alarm on my phone could ring even if it was switched off, I have made a point of never using the alarm on the phone. I would be too worried that the alarm might just be set to ring during a concert.

I discovered this ring-through property of the alarm just recently (of course, during a movie and it happened twice: the first time I didn't understand why it had gone off). After that I completely turned off the phone, instead of merely silencing it. I should run some tests to verify that completely turning off the phone really does silence the alarm.

Piano*Dad, I don't think I'm a technophone, but with a new phone I might fumble for a bit to figure out how to turn off an alarm or a ring.

"Actually, Patron X said he had no idea he was the culprit. He said his company replaced his BlackBerry with an iPhone the day before the concert. He said he made sure to turn it off before the concert, not realizing that the alarm clock had accidentally been set and would sound even if the phone was in silent mode.

“I didn’t even know phones came with alarms,” the man said.

But as Mr. Gilbert was glaring in his direction, he fiddled with the phone as others around him did, just to be sure, pressing buttons. That was when the sound stopped. It was only in the car going home that his wife checked the settings on his phone and found that the alarm had been set."